PRODUCING POLO PONIES 137 



law, "the survival of the fittest," which is not stayed 

 long by wish or will or painstaking effort. 



THE POLO PONY 



In recent years a demand has sprung up for a pony 

 somewhat different from any yet described. A wiry, 

 active, courageous animal, of good temper and unex- 

 celled endurance. He should be from thirteen and a half 

 to fourteen and a half hands high. Polo ponies larger 

 than this are considered too tall, as they place the rider 

 too far from his work. The small pony, one below thir- 

 teen hands, has not the speed, activity or power neces- 

 sary to carry the rider successfully through a sharply 

 contested game of polo. Of course, an ideal polo pony 

 can be produced only by a liberal admixture of the 

 Arabian or Oriental blood with that of selected mares 

 of the Welch or Exmoor type, or with suitably shaped 

 small mares which already have some of- the warm-blood 

 characteristics. The best-tempered mustang or Indian 

 mares would form most excellent foundation stock, on 

 the dam's side, for the production of an American breed 

 of polo ponies. (See Fig. 4, Chap. III.) If the Ara- 

 bian blood were once harmoniously united with the blood 

 of the plains, the foundation, at least, would be laid of 

 a breed of horses upon which an unexcelled breed of 

 ponies suited to polo and other similar work could 

 speedily be reared. The foundation stock for such a 

 breed, though scattered, is abundant. Where is the 

 genius who will take up the work of uniting the valu- 

 able scattered potential forces, and thus produce a breed 



